Category: Thing 3

Thing 3

Passing On What’s Important

Parents try hard to pass on to their kids what they feel is important. They want their kids to grow up to be well rounded, functioning members of society. And they want them to have a bit of culture and style.

With three brothers ahead of Thing 4, SuburbanMommy wasted no time instilling important life teachings to her daughter. At just one year old, Thing 4 already has a genuine love for shoes. We often find her in the closet going through the shoes, walking around with them, and sometimes, putting them in her mouth (she’s one year old).

And now, she has also become very fond of Coach handbags. Much to the delight of SuburbanMommy who has never met a Coach anything she doesn’t like and has the closet to prove it.

And never wanting to be upstaged by his sister, Thing 3 is also partial to Coach bags.

Advertising Works. No kidding.

Researchers recently found out that kids prefer the taste of food that comes in a package with cartoon characters. Really? I had no idea. Oh, is this the reason they put all the Sponge Bob mac & cheese boxes at knee level where Thing 3 can grab it as he is running down the aisles at the supermarket?

My kids are already well conditioned by brands and advertising. By the age of 3 they all knew Starbucks, McDonalds, and Target and ask for them by name. Except, of course, Thing 3 who defies any kind of conditioning and marches to his own beat. He absolutely loves Lucky Charms, at least we call them Lucky Charms, but in fact he will only eat the store brand “marshmallow oat cereal”. And trust me, he can tell the difference just by looking at the cereal in the bowl.

A Pleasant Surprise

I thought I would follow up on the post earlier this week where I was dreading a trip to the dentist with Thing 3.? It went nothing like I expected.? This is often the case with Thing 3.? He is truly one of a kind and you never know what he will do.? Sometimes that causes trouble.? But sometimes it’s a pleasant surprise.

dentist

It took a little time and convincing, but we were able to get him to
1. Sit in the dentist chair
2. Sit by himself
3. Let the hygienist brush his teeth
4. Let the hygienist FLOSS his teeth
5. Let the hygienist put flouride on his teeth
6. Use the suction tube which he absolutely thought was the funnest thing ever
7. Let the dentist count and check his teeth. The dentist said the official count was 20, but Thing 3 insisted he has 40 teeth. We did not dare argue with him.

Unbelievable. Now, if we can only have this drastic turnaround next time we get his hair cut.

Home Sick

This is Thing 3 home sick today. Although he did throw up once during the night, he is in pretty good spirits because he gets to watch movies all day which is one of his favorite activities. And he also gets to play with his little sister’s toys that she got for her birthday last night. Coincidence?

Time For Tea

This Will Hurt Me More Than You

Today will be torture. For Thing 3. And even more so for me. Today we go to the dentist.

To avoid a complete catastrophe when the event arrives, I have been casually mentioning it over the last week. Like when I brush his teeth, I told him he can get a NEW toothbrush when we go to the dentist. You’d think a kid would like something new. But not Thing 3. He doesn’t like change at all. He prefers his old, bent bristles, ratty toothbrush. “Nooo! I don’t want to go to the dentist!”

I didn’t mentioned it again until last night at bedtime, I reminded him that I would pick him up at school at 10:30 and we’d go to the dentist. “Nooo! I don’t want to go!”

Apparently, he was worrying about this all night. He woke up in a bad mood and, with no prompting, and has told us 137 times (I counted) that he doesn’t want to go to the dentist.

I don’t know why we even bother. A dentist visit with him consists of him kicking, screaming, and fighting while I hold him down and the dentist peeks at his teeth for 3 seconds. Money and time well spent to teach a 3 year old the importance of taking care of your teeth.

Workin The Wii

Thing 3 has really started to get into Wii. It’s really amazing how he is able to find his way through the menus and screens to play the games he wants. Maybe it’s from watching others do it, or memorizing from trial and error, or maybe he’s actually reading the words. I’m just glad he wants to do it on his own. His favorite games are Mario Kart, Bowling, and Just Dance Kids.

Anything Is Possible

There are some things I didn’t think were possible. I never thought we’d get as much snow in DC as we did last winter. I didn’t think the Redskins could get any worse, but they manage to do it every year, much to my enjoyment.

And, I never thought Thing 3 would be potty trained. But now he is! It’s something we’ve been working on for upwards of a year. It was going so poorly at one point we abandoned potty training completely, hoping he’d eventually come around. He was the only one left in his preschool class in pull-ups. Just getting him to give up diapers for pull-ups was an enormous struggle that took months.

Last week we went to Target and Thing 3 picked out the underwear he wanted. They were two sizes too big, but I didn’t care. He can wear a bra and panties for all I care as long as he doesn’t pee and poop in them. When we got home, we put all his pull-ups in a trash bag and threw them in the garbage. That was about 10 days ago. He cried for the pull-ups for a couple days but I told him they are all gone, he has to wear underwear now. We’ve had some accidents but for the most part he’s been peeing in the potty, especially at school. Pooping was where Thing 3 made his final stand, but I’m happy to report that tonight we had our first “splash down”.

We’ve been offering Thing 3 as many desserts as he wants for the last year if he’ll just use the potty. Tonight, we happily made good on the promise.
thepromisephoto